The fourth round of collective labor agreement negotiations for the approximately 55,000 employees in the rail sector ended in the evening with an agreement. From December, employees will receive an increase in their KV and actual wages by 4.1 percent, the union and the Chamber of Commerce jointly announced in the evening.
The agreement is therefore clearly above the underlying inflation rate of 3.5 percent. The term of the KV agreement is 12 months. Representatives of the union and the Chamber of Commerce said they were satisfied, but the percentage was “above what we can afford in the current tense economic situation. But we want to afford it, which is a strong sign of the companies’ appreciation of their employees,” explains Thomas Scheiber, chairman of the railway association in the WKÖ.
Works councils still have to agree
The union will put the collective labor agreement to the vote of the railway works councils at a conference in Vienna tomorrow, Thursday. “You can pretty much assume that this wage increase will be widely accepted,” says Vida trade unionist Gerhard Tauchner.
In addition to the salary increase, the negotiators have also agreed on an adjustment of the valorizable additional remuneration by 4.1 percent. The income for technical apprenticeships will now be 1010 euros from the first year of the apprenticeship.
“There are also improvements in the KV framework law for employees. In a side letter to the KV, it was agreed, among other things, that the preconditions would be adapted to the operational challenges and needs,” says Tauchner. Topics such as night and weekend work, general working time regulations, allocation to salary tables and sector-specific special regulations must be discussed. The working groups are expected to start in February 2025.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
